The present invention relates generally to board games and, more particularly, to a board game that is designed to develop family cooperation while providing players with opportunities to improve their financial skills and decision making abilities.
The background information discussed below is presented to better illustrate the novelty and usefulness of the present invention. This background, information is not admitted prior art.
One of the greatest satisfactions a parent can have is to know that they are effectively helping their children to be responsible, mature, successful individuals. Although most parents are more than willing to invest whatever amount of time is required to teach their children good life skills, they do not want their children to think of them only as instructors. Parents want to enjoy the company of their children and hope that their children will also enjoy the time they spend with their parents. Thus, parents would greatly appreciate a product and/or a process that would allow them to help their children develop positive life skills and to do so in a way that results in their children enjoying their participation in the teaching/learning experience.
Knowing how to make good decisions and how to manage money are two of the more important life skills. Having such skills is perhaps more important to children in today's world than it ever has been before. Researchers have found that children and teenagers have a tremendous impact on spending decisions. In addition to playing such a large role in how their parent's money is spent, youngsters spend enormous sums of their own money. Researchers estimate that children spend about $200 billion dollars a year and influence another $250 billion dollars of household purchases. Clearly, children need to be educated on how to spend money sensibly. Children also need to learn the importance of saving money.
Children are capable of developing positive attitudes about money, and, with some help, they can learn how to plan their spending and savings to meet their needs and financial goals. People, including young people, learn better and faster when involved in real spending and savings deliberations and decisions and subsequently having to live with the consequences of those decisions. It is often difficult, though, to find appropriate opportunities for children, especially young children, to be involved in making real family financial decisions. Most experts agree that teaching children skills required for financial independence can be one of the toughest parenting undertakings there is. Children, especially very young children, cannot be allowed to decide which house or automobile the family will purchase. Nor are they prepared to comparison shop and to make buying choices. Having a child simply observe an adult's decision making process often results in a bored and disinterested child. In order to remain interested participants in a decision making exercise, children usually need to be involved in making decisions that will, in some way, impact them. Parents and other teachers struggle, often unsuccessfully, to identify mechanisms that can assist them in teaching children financial skills that will help them avoid financial problems as adults. Thus, it is clear that what is sorely needed is a means that can be used to help children learn to make good choices, especially when the choice is an economic one.
Young people who learn good money management skills are more likely to become adults who can make sound financial decisions, use credit wisely, invest in retirement plans, avoid excessive debt, and manage income and expenses to reach their financial goals. Teaching children at an early age the value of money can eventually reap rewards for the children, their parents, and for society as a whole. Understanding how money is used in exchange for things that are needed or wanted should form a part of a child's education from before the time he or she enters grade school and through high school. Different approaches, however, work better at different ages. Thus, it is appreciated that what is needed is a means that will allow children of various ages to participate in and learn from making choices that have economic and other kinds of consequences.
Parents are their children's first and arguably most effective teachers. Even more important than lessons learned from their parents teaching are the lessons children learn from their own successes and failures in spending money. These achievements, or failures, usually make lasting impressions on young decision makers and, thus, impact their future decisions. One way to give children experience in making financial decisions is to involve children in the family's financial decisions, especially in those situations where the decision will affect each member of the family. Such a situation might be in the planning of a family vacation, especially when the vacation choices must be guided by a defined budget. Family vacations, however, usually take place only once a year which limits their use as teaching opportunities. It is appreciated then that what is sorely needed are means to help parents teach their children how to make sound financial decisions where the means are available as often as, and when, needed.
It is well-accepted that actions often speak louder than words. When children see first-hand that good decision making, such as making a decision to save money, can result in some kind of rewarding experience, they are more apt to remember that lesson. It is not always easy to save, even for adults, unless there is a clear incentive for doing so. To more fully engage the interest of their children, parents could contemplate sharing their financial goals with their children, especially those financial goals that will impact all family members, such as saving to buy a house, a car, or for the family to go on a vacation. This can give kids a meaningful reason to save. However, buying a house, a car, or even going on a family vacation are usually relatively rare events and do not occur frequently enough to be dependable teaching tools. What is needed are readily available means to give children an incentive to want to save for something that is important to them.
Parents are advised to use every opportunity possible to teach their children smart money management. Such opportunities include having children learn to read labels, to ask questions of the sales clerks when the information they need is not on labels or when the information is unclear, and to recognize a “good” buy by taking the children with them when shopping and explaining one item over another will be the choice. These types of activities should be followed-up by offering guidance and suggestions to children when they are doing their own shopping. These can be simple and effective strategies, but they often may not be workable. In most of today's families, one or both parents are away from home working during day-time shopping hours and children are in school. In the evening parents are tired and have to get the family ready for the next day while the children often need at least part of the evening to complete their homework assignments. What would be appreciated are means to help children become good money managers that can accommodate everyone's schedules.
When parents encourage children to participate in family discussions on how to spend the family's income, children are more likely to develop a deeper and more accurate understanding and appreciation of their family's expenses and help children understand that their wants and needs are only part of what the family's income must cover, thus enabling the children to more fully and willingly cooperate with the family's economic decisions, such as making last year's wardrobe do for another year and keeping the home thermostat turned down to save on heating costs. Children may also be kept involved by allowing them to help keep the family's financial records, writing checks, and participating in discussions about the family's insurance program. As helpful as these suggestions are they can be difficult to implement. It is unrealistic and unfair to expect children to be able to make adult spending decisions. Keeping family records is tedious yet demands great attention, something that is difficult for children to do. Writing checks is often not something parents are willing to allow children to do and even so, after the first few check writing experiences, children often lose their interest in these kinds of activities. What is needed is a product and/or a process capable of helping children of various ages learn fiscal responsibility and good decision making skills and is amendable to the needs and desires of both the parents and the children.
Learning to make good choices, often is proceeded by the pain of making mistakes. Even as adults, we often make poor choices. Making poor choices, such as making a poor spending decision may likely result in an uncomfortable experience, but it also can be a valuable and remembered lesson. As adults, though, we should strive to offer children chances to make mistakes that are significant as learning tools, but that are not unduly burdensome or punitive. What would be of considerable benefit to parents in this respect would be a means to allow children to make decisions that have meaningful but not disastrous consequences for them.
Learning to make good decisions is only part of learning to be fiscally responsible. Children also need to learn how to keep records. So as not to overwhelm a child's abilities, record keeping kept should be simple and should be, at least in part, the child's idea. The act of keeping simple records will provide for children to gain an understanding of where their money comes from and where it goes. Keeping records enables a child to monitor step by step how their pay or allowance can just slip away unless something is done to keep track of it and plan its use. A good money management teaching tool would include a budget that could be used by youngsters of various ages.
Thus it is clear that there is an unmet need for a product and/or a process that encourages family members to spend more time enjoying each other's company, provides ways to strengthen family bonds, and helps parents help their children develop positive life skills. Such a product and/or a process should provide ways to help children learn to make good choices, especially in those cases where the choices are economic, and should do so for children of various ages. The learning should involve making choices that have consequences that are meaningful to the children making the choices. Not only should the means educate children on how to spend money sensibly, they should also help children to appreciate the benefits of saving money. Moreover, such means should be available as often as, and when, needed thus, being able to accommodate the schedules of both parents and children. Moreover, a good money management and decision making teaching tool should include a budget making tool designed for use by youngsters of various ages.